Robot250 is a city-wide extravaganza of large scale interactive robot art projects, workshops,

festivities, events, and film held July 11-27 in Pittsburgh, PA. Sponsored by Carnegie Mellon

University, the University of Pittsburgh, and a number of local community groups like the

Heinz Endowments, the program features BigBots interactive robot displays with artistic themes.

You’re No. 1 ... Really!

Ian Ingram, BigBot curator and
creator of the “You’re No. 1” robotic
foam hand and finger interpretation
atop the Andy Warhol Museum spoke
about the BigBots, beginning with his
own work (at my request).

The nearly seven yards of
Pittsburgh black and yellow foam
hand and index finger spread the love
by reaching out to visitors to say they
were no. 1. The hand moved, positioned itself, and pointed at various
visitor outposts miles away and
throughout the city using dual-axis
hydraulics. One axis was a hydraulic
motor and one was a hydraulic actuator.

The hydraulics gave the hand
two degrees of freedom (DOF) of

movement. The first DOF held the
hand straight up and twisted it
around while the second moved it
downward to point it at the outposts
or to wave at people. All the action
was automated by a small microcontroller, though the original plan was to
have kiosks at the outposts with
remote triggers to activate the hand
and point it in the specific direction of
the kiosk that triggered the response.

The robotic hand made use of
sensing and a limiting switch — a
gross encoder — which told the
robot when to stop and start its
movements. The hand was fitted
with a camera that lined up in varying
positions equal to a straight line to the
different outposts.

The PIC microcontroller was

brought to life using software created
in C programming. The software looks
for limit switch hits, making plans
for movement between where the
hand is and where it needs to go to
perform the pointing and waving,
according to Ingram.

The robot uses a motor to pump
fluid to create pressure to activate
and manipulate the hydraulics. The
hydraulic valves use solenoids and are
pushed by external signals from the
microcontroller. The structure of the
hand is steel weldments with
polyurethane foam similar to the
hands that people take to sports
games.

The “You’re No. 1” BigBots
robotic installation by Ian Ingram
is a 20-foot tall robotic black
and yellow foam hand and finger
like the ones worn by fans of
Pittsburgh’s most famous sports
team. The maneuvering hydraulic
hand appeared on the roof of
the Andy Warhol Museum in
Pittsburgh as part of the
Robot250 Festival, which ran
July 11-27, 2008. Ingram, BigBot
curator, senior research
associate, and artist-in-residence
at Carnegie Mellon University,
built the big hand, which pointed
at passers-by around the city.

Semi-autonomous
Percussive Devices
Communicate Like
Crickets

The Crickets installation uses a
number of interconnected robotic
sculptures to imitate the action and
reaction of group communication
among packs of animals such as dogs
or insects. The robots are equipped
with wooden knockers controlled by
solenoids to tap out their noises.

Photos and caption information are
courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University.